Cubs' DeJesus ready to play hard, be accountable

Chicago Cubs outfielder David DeJesus had no problem signing with a team in transition after spending the last nine years playing on similar teams.

“I’ve been in transition with Kansas City, Oakland,” the new Cubs free-agent acquisition said Thursday at Wrigley Field. “I’m excited to come in here and play my game. … I heard from ex-players that if you just go in there and play hard, the fans and your teammates will respect you.”

DeJesus was the first free-agent move of the new Cubs’ regime, and probably could serve as the quintessential position player they’re seeking: disciplined at the plate, defensive-minded, intelligent on the basepaths, strong clubhouse presence and willing to sign a short-term deal.

DeJesus, who lives in Wheaton, where his wife Kim is from, said he’d like to be known as “a guy that’s going to be reliable” and hustles.

“That’s the way I’ve been known to play since Rutgers, and back in the day, when my day taught me, 'Just be accountable for your actions,’ ” he said. “That’s the way I want to be.”

While running the show in Boston, Epstein had tried to acquire DeJesus at the trade deadline in 2010, before DeJesus, then with Kansas City, broke his wrist running into a wall at Yankee Stadium. Epstein called him “well-rounded” in all aspects of the game.

“I tend to like those types of players, the ones who you can’t necessarily point to anything and say, ‘Hey this guy is going to hit you 30 home runs,’ because he’s not,’” Epstein said. “And you can’t say he’s going to hit .320, because outside of one year (.318 in 2010) he’s not going to do that either.

“He’s not going to steal you 40 bags. But I like players whose contributions are consistent across the board. … The totality of their contributions can be equal to or more than the player who does one thing extremely well -- if a guy is going to go out and hit you 25-30 home runs but really hurts you in other areas … If we have a club full of well-rounded players, we’re going to far exceed expectations, because the solo contributions really add up.”

Speaking of players who hit 25-30 home runs and hurt a team in other areas, some speculate the addition of DeJesus eventually will lead to the departure of Alfonso Soriano, with the Cubs eating the bulk of the remaining $54 million on his deal.

That would allow the Cubs to move DeJesus to left and give top prospect Brett Jackson an opportunity play on an everyday basis. Epstein called Jackson a “very, very promising” prospect, but hinted that it may be too soon to think about promoting him from Triple-A Iowa, where the left-handed outfielder hit .297 with a .551 slugging percentage in 185 at-bats.

“He’s the type of guy we want here, and he’s got a bright future here,” Epstein said. “That said, I believe in having a player just about fully developed by the time he comes up to the big leagues. There has been a trend in the industry to kind of promote guys pretty quickly from Double-A. I don’t know that Triple-A is really looked at as a developmental level anymore, and it should be.

“Triple-A, we like to think of it as finishing school, and if a player still has weaknesses, and they all do -- everyone does as human beings -- Triple-A is a place to really round out, turn those weaknesses, get them to at least league average and then come up to the big leagues. We’re going to continue developing in the big leagues, but the job of the player development department is to fully round out our prospects. If a player seems ready and knocking on the door, for a position player especially, we’re going to really look to round out there development before they come up.”